The final third of the book is hopeful. Although Lakshmi is told that she will never go home, she still takes that chance of talking to the American about getting out of the Happiness House even though everyone tells her that she should never trust or listen to the American men because they will strip you and throw you out on the streets. Lakshmi also decides that she will do whatever it takes to get home to her family. This is a drastic and heroic change that happens in Lakshmi. In the beginning of the book she would get beaten and starved and still not sleep with men. Then she says, "Here at happiness house, there are dirty men, old men, rough men, fat men, drunken men, sick men. I will be with them all. Any man, every man. I will become Monica. I will do whatever it takes to get out of here" (pg.227). Lakshmi is hopeful that she will overcome this horrible life style and get back home to her mountain with her mother and sister. No matter what it takes.
This book had a lasting impact on me. I thought about what I would do if I were in that situation and it make me think about how I could help girls like Lakshmi get out of this horrible business. It was well written and very easy to follow the story line but I would love to have gotten just a little bit more detail so I could really step into Lakshmi shoes and I hated the ending. I got so attached to Lakshmi that I really wanted to know what happened and I turned the page and it was over right as it got exciting. I feel as if the writer would have given us more closer it would have been a much better book because it disappointed me at the very end.
I too marvel at the change in Lakshimi's attitude in the last half but view it more of an attempt at overcoming her hopeful, naive self into a more realistic thinker. Lakshimi learned the ways of the happiness house and it is as if she lost all her childish dreams of getting out and began to think of it realistically. Lakshimi began to take a shot at making her dreams reality and attempted to make a difference in her life. "I will do whatever it takes to get out of here"(page 227). Lakshimi accepts the fact that she will work and instead of dream, make more calculations and do what it takes to get out.
ReplyDeleteAs you stated in your commentary, "Here at happiness house, there are dirty men, old men, rough men, fat men, drunken men, sick men. I will be with them all. Any man, every man. I will become Monica. I will do whatever it takes to get out of here" (pg.227). It is amazing how at the beginning of the book Lakshmi would do anything BUT be with the men and now she is doing almost everything she can to be with the men. On page 228, it includes more information regarding how desperate and hopeful she is to get out of the Happiness House. "Whatever It Takes I have a regular customer now. He makes me do a nasty thing, but he gives me 10 rupees extra. I had a drunken customer yesterday. When he fell asleep afterward, I went through his wallet and helped myself to 20 rupees more. A deformed man came to the door yesterday. I told him I would be with him, for 20 rupees extra." Yes, Lakshmi was hopeful that she would escape the Happiness House, but in the end, it all came down to weather she could ever be the same person she was before.
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